Salad

OK. Here we are, finally making it public that I do not eat salads. I know. How have I kept this a secret all of my life? Has no one ever noticed? How many thousands of meals have I eaten with friends and family? Has no one never noticed when coming to my home to eat one of my wonderfully prepared repasts, that I never offer salads?

Lettuce: green, crunchy, tasteless, messy (have you ever watched people trying to get it in their mouths gracefully without dripping the dressing all over their chins?) Does lettuce have any value to it at all?

Tomatoes: what is up with all that mucousey stuff with seeds that turn everything soggy. And if the tomatoes are not stored properly, they have no taste at all. I think most people put tomatoes in their salads because of the color.

Peppers: I like peppers. I like orange and yellow peppers. I don't know if I would eat them every day. But I like them.

Onions: I like onions but they are cut wrong for salads. They are usually too long and thick. They are over powering when they are part of any food. I think onions should be sliced very thin and delicate. There should always be just a hint of onion. I watch people stuff the things in their mouths and it is not always pretty.

Carrots: I saw a salad when I was out with my mother today that had carrots in it. They were grated instead of sliced. I thought that was good. It was a nice color. I might do that.

What is this about? I ate a salad this week. I don't eat salad. I went to lunch with my Mother last Sunday. She ordered a salad. What was the surprise? She always has soup. I was so surprised by this that I looked at the salad options on the menu and I don't know what came over me, but I ordered a salad too. I ordered the 'Asian Sesame Chicken Salad'. After I ordered it, I thought to myself, "what am I doing? I don't eat salad. God almighty. I'm going crazy. The beginning of senility.

It was very big. Very big. I ate a third of it and found that I didn't get the dry heaves. I rather liked it. It was simple. I even took the rest of it home and had it the next day. Something is wrong. I actually liked it. I then decided to start eating salad. I know. Contrary to a lifetime of never touching the green stuff. Never too late to change, eh!

So I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients as described on the menu. I didn't make up my own salad. I liked the one I had at the restaurant. So it was a good place to start. Here it is.





I began with cooking chicken breasts. Hannafords puts out these seasoning packets that I absolutely love. I chose one and added a little olive oil and dredged the breasts in it then baked them in the oven for half an hour. You can over cook chicken. Half an hour is all it needed.




This rub turns any meat or fish quite tasty without being over-powered. I think they have maybe eight different flavors. "Taste of Inspiration" is actually a product of Hannaford's. It is one of their "fancy" name brands. It is not mentioned on the packaging. I found out by looking it up on the internet. I look for the brand when I am shopping. I am never disappointed when I get something that is "Taste of Inspiration".



How to cut the lettuce. I am not sure. I see people trying to stuff lettuce that is cut too big into their mouths and it is not always a pretty sight. Then they wonder how come they get their shirts and blouses stained with oil. So I cut my lettuce into one inch pieces. It ended up being too small. I found the salad very difficult to eat with the lettuce cut this small. I kept saying to myself "How do people eat this stuff? It's awful!! It is impossible to eat." I then decided that I need to work on what size to cut lettuce so it can be eaten without a bib.


The salad from the restaurant had cilantro which I barely chopped. Cilantro is a wonderful taste and when eaten raw, should never be chopped unless it is going into a sauce or a garnish. Here it is a sensitive taste in the scheme of the dish. I also added a little dried cranberries. I love a bit of fruit in things. And the brown things are Chinese wonton noodles that have been baked. A really good texture.



Then I sliced a bit of chicken really thin. You can see how the rub just coats the outside of the meat and adds just that tiny taste to it. The dressing is a Low Fat Asian sesame Ginger dressing put out by Newman's Own. Very good. I tossed the salad in it before adding the chicken. I only used a tiny bit of dressing. I didn't want the salad to taste just the dressing, nor drip the dressing.

It worked out quite well. There was no cheese, no other vegetables. It was simple.

Mom and I went out to a different restaurant today and I ordered another salad with salmon today but it was more difficult to eat. Too many tomatoes, onions, and way too much cheese. The dressing was wonderful. It was a Zinfandel vinaigrette and was low fat but you wouldn't know it. I decided today that I would not make a salad with tomatoes. I don't like tomatoes in a salad. And if I were to put onions in one, I would definitely slice them very thin. I would like corn in a salad though. I love corn. They say that frozen corn is good in a salad because it is frozen as soon as it is cut off the cob. I am not sure about cheese in a salad. It makes the dish rather heavy. I am going to forgo cheese for now.

Does a salad need lettuce? Really?

Quilt book

The story here is that I don't have my books with me. They are in storage. I want to make these tiny little quilts that are maybe 4 to 6 inches that will be given to women being treated for cancer. My sister Linda told me about this woman who makes these simple little quilts that are just four blocks and each block is knotted and they come with a note that says "Each knot is tied with love for you." The women who get these are very moved and keep them very close. An act of love and compassion between two women. So I thought I could do that with all of these scraps that I have from my own work and from all of the scraps that friends have sent me. But I am not an experienced quilter, even though there are those out there who think I am. So I have been looking for books with patterns I might use. I thought I would do something a bit different instead of just four squares sewn together. You know me. Never that simple. My mother and I were out today and we went to Martin's House of Fabrics. It used to be a big place, but now they are small and a bit disappointing. They have a decently small offering of quilting fabrics, but their books are on display on just a turning rack. Nothing to speak of. So we went to JoAnn Fabrics. I know. You are all screaming "WHAT??? It is all we have. I found this great book and brought it to the counter when I realized my 40% coupon expired yesterday. I thought that maybe if I was nice to the cashier, he might give me a small discount just the same. Well, was I impressed. He was so lovely. He gave me a 50% discount. Yes. 50%. I only paid $13 for the book. I just about died. And this is a thick book.

It was the type of customer care we would give to customers at Fabric Depot in Portland Oregon. When I told him that, he said "Oh, I know that store! I lived there and shopped there all the time! It was a great store!!!" This young man could not have been any older that what - 20, maybe 22 years old. I was very impressed. I may go to that store more often now for my emergencies. JoAnn Fabrics hit my heart today, I must admit.

Shawl

This is a small photo of the Honey Bee shawl I have been working on forever. I am running out of the yarn and am hoping that my sister will find more of the yarn in storage in Oregon. The yarn is very thin. I should have taken a picture of the yarn itself. The first picture is a good picture of the color. I will have to go back to my sister Linda's house and snap a picture of the yarn itself so D- can get an idea of the size of the yarn.

Kimono Scarf

Perhaps you have seen these in catalogs selling for anywhere from $60 to $150. They are made of course, from old Kimono silks and generally lined with new silks. I have not seen one in over a year. In my diaries which are in storage in Oregon, I have clipped the catalog pages they are advertised on. They are usually short and tied in one knot in the front. And they are always beautiful to look at and, I would imagine, wonderful to wear.


But I have chosen to design mine differently. I lined mine with the lining of the kimono, here you can see the coral pink. I made it 70 inches long so it can be twisted 'round in two. My two sisters always wear their scarves that way, and frankly, I love a scarf that is between 2 & 1/2 to 3 yards long. But I am a bit excessive.



In this piece there are gold, silver and pink metallic threads woven right into the design of the silk. There are just so many fabrics that it was difficult to choose which to use.


This copper piece also had a green dye graded into it. It was a lovely addition into the neutrals.


My sister Suzanne received this one for her birthday. I think I should make more. I want to take more of the kimonos out of storage. It takes forever to take one apart. But it is a peaceful process as I imagine the artist putting one together. Maybe I will go to the storage space tomorrow.

Snow

Still, really, no snow. Nothing really to write about. Although more than what there was in Portland Oregon. I know I should not complain. Snow complicates everything. Last week, one day, I did have to brush the snow off my car. That was nice. I drove the streets in this dusting of snow and this little car drove pretty good. I don't know if I have snow tires. They look like new Michelins according to George. Does this mean they are good in the snow? Should I get chains? I don't have a problem so far. Oh and I did drive in the dark the other day for the first time. It went well. Driving is getting better. Easier. I am less timid.

I should talk to George about the tires. I found out today that I have an assigned parking space behind this building I live in. So tomorrow, I will check that out. We have a parking ban here in the city. You have to park on even sides of the street on even days during the night hours and odd sides on odd days. Otherwise you get a ticket. It doesn't seem like they ticket much as there is a car out there that seems to be permanently parked in this one spot and it never has a ticket in the window. But I don't want to take a chance. Still, I like being able to look out my window and see the car. I worry about someone stealing it. It's not that I live in a ghetto. It is just a regular neighborhood. And I don't know why I worry about it at all. I just do. But having it in back of the house off the street will be good unless someone living here decides to do something to it. I worry for nothing. I think that's it. I worry for nothing. It is stupid. Residual emotions.

I may have found a job today. A lovely little cafe owned by an old friend of George and mine. It is not too far from where I live. "That Extra Touch Gourmet" cafe and catering. I would be working the front of the house. Customers. Nice little place. You can go to their website by typing in the name .com. It is small, well established, and somewhat busy. I will write more when things happen with them. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed, except when you are typing, or doing the dishes, or wiping your .... .

It should work out.

A demain

Fruit cake

I was just reading a cooking magazine and once again I was reminded that another Christmas has gone by and I have not seen a single fruit cake. What has happened to the fruit cake. Why has it fallen out of favor?

This lovely cake used to be on every shelf during the holidays. I would always buy them. They would last forever. I would cut slivers off as treats and savor each bite. And old friends knew me well enough that each year I would get sometimes five of them as presents.
And there was a couple of years, back in the early eighties, when I had this huge cupboard in the front hallway and I made fifteen loaves of this thick whisky cake filled with fruits that I even candied myself. Everyone thought I was nuts for going to that extreme but I didn't see anyone throwing the cakes out! And I made them in lovely shapes using some pretty fancy molds. At one time I had quite a collection of bundt cake molds. I miss those. There is nothing like a beautifully shaped fluffy cake.

Alas, I am afraid I will have to research recipes and look into making my own again. Quelle Domage (what a pity). Maybe I should revive the art and sell them.

Why have they fallen out of favor? Personally I think people took bites that were too big. This cake should be eaten delicately. If at a table setting, there should be a little slightly whipped, lightly sugared cream to the side. It has to be eaten a certain way. We have a tendency to just load our mouths full with everything. We eat too fast and pass judgement just as quickly without having really tasted every crumb. And fruit cakes have so much going on. They need a light touch. A delicate mouth.

I guess you have to decide if your mouth is capable of being delicate.....

No longer sailing

OK. So the pictures are not the best. I am not known for my fantastic photography. Not like my dear friend Jody who takes the most beautiful photos. She probably would have put a basket of vegetables and flowers on the hood or one of her beautiful quilts.

I was still at the dealership. And the weather was bad, and I have never taken a picture of a car before. I have never had to. But this one is a milestone for me.

Yes, this is my car. Did you read this? My car. Well, it belongs to my family really as they purchased it. But I get to take care of it and drive it. What is it?



It is a 1998 Ford Escort SE. It has 73,000miles, Michelin tires that look brand new that are filled with nitrogen (what?). It is front wheel drive. George says that is important. OK. It does not have a single ding outside nor dirt spot inside. It is a 4 cylinder motor so it is not meant for high speed. So no trips cross country in search of Elvis Presley. It has no noises. I feel totally safe in it. This is important because I will be driving my mother around in this car and heaven forbid something should happen while we are out. And she will be comfortable in the front seat. Some cars you sit in are not comfortable. They are too low, too hard. Some car seats I just don't like. This is a good one.

It is a simple car. When it came time to drive away we went to fill the gas tank. When I opened the door this thing kept beeping. Even when the door was closed it was beeping like it was going to blow up. George didn't know what it was about either. It stopped when I started up the car. So I drove back to the dealership and told them about it. Stupid.

It is amazing how far technology comes in a short period of time. The headlights were on. These you have to manually turn on and off. If you leave them on and take the keys out of the ignition, the beeping will tell you "Hey lady, don't forget me!!!" See, with George, his lights are automatic. They go on when he is driving, and off when he is not. I got used to that in a very short period of time. Everything is simple in this car. I rather like that. Simple, like my sewing machine.

So, I am no longer sailing. I am driving.